Woodward Fab18" Bead Roller KIT

First off, I don't write reviews... like.. ever !!But, after reading the others questions, answers, and feedback, I figured why not.First, it is VERY heavy and the box size can be deceiving.Some say to get the stand and others say to make one but most say it doesn't work well in a vice. I kind of agree with that but mainly because I didn't have room to crank it. I have all kinds of stands that I can adapt but all I did was drill a piece of 2" x 2" square tubing a foot long and bolted it to the tubing via the provided threaded mounting holes. (Metric thread and the bolts are not included). I welded two tabs where the tubing rests in the vice as a safety to keep it from tilting left/right but a c-clamp worked for my first uses as well.I've seen the question about the plate size and I'm assuming that what they are asking about is the main frame itself. It's 1/2" thick steel plate, and where others have said it needs beefed up and/or flexes, I've run heavier than the max advertised gauge through it and as long as you use common sense and not try to make a deep bead in one pass it rolls it out very nicely and quickly. Thinner gauge material can roll a bead in one pass.That takes us to the dies. Someone said the bead dies don't fit together. That is, the male die bead doesn't fit all the way down in the female die.... it's too short (where have I heard that before 🤔 )Anyways, they may not of realized that the dies can't fit perfectly inside one another because you have to have room for the sheet metal thickness, and since this does various thicknesses, it stands to reason that they would allow ample space AND if you're doing a radius bead like an "L" or a triangle then that space needs to be even greater. And this does very nice bead bends by the way.It DOES come with 6 sets of dies (rollers). 3 sizes of bead rollers and 3 different step offset die sets. I haven't tried mixing and matching or doing multiple steps yet but will be in the next week or so and I'll find out then.Is it easier with two people like the videos show? Well duh, of course it is !! But if you grew up depending on no one's help, and hated asking for help, then you'll undoubtedly be able to work it by yourself like I did and/or make provisions to support the panel as you work it around. I haven't done any 3' long beads yet but where there's a will there's a way 😆Most of the other information can be found in others feedback or product description. The dies ID/shaft OD is said to be an industry standard size. Some say it's made in Japan and some say USA and by now I think we should all know that things can be "assembled in the USA" with parts from "Japan" or one of the many other countries sending their products here. It's fairly safe to assume that at $200 for the main roller assy and 6 sets of dies it's not 100% manufactured in the USA.And on that note, for $200 it's way better than what I expected !! I would definitely recommend it to a friend and if something did happen to this one, which I don't foresee, I'd buy another "hoping" they didn't change the quality and strength since the last purchase.Have a nice day :-)

For the money, this is a very quality piece of equipment. Haven't pushed its limits yet, but steamrolls through 20 and 22 gauge like nothing providing crisp, well defined beads. Tested the roller with some scrap 18 gauge sheet, does ok with a slightly degraded bead shape, definately it's limit.Some imported tools, such as this bead roller are pretty nice and work fine for the part-timer once you dial them in. These are pretty much thrown together with cheap hardware, keeping the price low. You're still way ahead even after a hardware upgrade and tweaking session. Also, it also beads and flanges just fine at it's 18 gauge limit. No issues with flexing or distorted beads at said limit with proper die pressure. Don't overload it and it does fine!!Tool itself is very sturdy and heavy! All shafts, bushings, and cogs are true and square. No complaints. Dies are smooth and leave virtually no marring or scratches on work piece.Downsides? The adjusting hardware is junk as well as the zerk fittings. A super easy, and cheap fix to replace. Also, quality control seems to be all over the map, I may have just got lucky and got a really nice one. Roll of the dice?For way under 150 bills, shipped, I can't really see a major fault with it. Even if you get a bad one, it may be a nice excuse to modifiy it.

This is a great starting point if you want a really solid Bead Roller. I wouldn't recommend using this "as is" unless you're rolling 22 gauge or thinner material.I bought it specifically with the intent to beef it up using the simple methods described in Bart Harkema's Youtube video. After copying what he did and making a few mods to suit my needs, we have a really functional tool at the workshop that will work on 18 gauge steel without any issue.

I have not yet had the opportunity to use this glorious device but I have already found myself impressed by the sheer girth of it.For such a low price I was really expecting to receive something of Hazard Fraught quality standards. Instead, this thick, heavy, solid piece of kit showed up on my doorstep whilst I was at work. I have no idea how many caramel macchiatos and mean bean cans of Monster my wife had consumed by that point in the day but she did manage to drag it a couple of feet inside of the front door after the trek up our inclined drive appears to have nearly done in our delivery man (why don't they have dollies on the truck for heavy things?).I've heard of people welding additional reinforcements to their bead rollers to reduce flex and while I may end up doing that at some point, I can't fathom the forces that would have to be exerted to induce movement in a piece of metal this thick to begin with. The handle appears to be well made though I might have to order longer arms or maybe a motor kit if I decide to bead anything very large. The set of dies that came with it have a nice surface finish and were all lightly coated in schmoo to prevent rust.Thus far, the only thing that I've not been pleased with is the shiny full-color catalog that they put in the box. The wife seems convinced that I should spend my hard-earned money on frivolities like food and mortgage payments and now I have a whole new list of things that I'd rather use it for.

I bought this to make panels for my truck as well as other items. It is easy to use however one thing I would recommend is to either buy the stand or be skilled enough to make your own stand. They say you can put it in a vise but that is not sturdy enough for me. I made my own stand. The bead roller works very easy and I found it to make nice crisp lines in my panels.

I purchased one of the Woodward Fab bead rollers and have been using it for about a year. Although I converted it to an electrical motor operated machine it did work great with the handle previously .